1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to magnetic stripe cards and particularly to magnetic stripe cards that can be loaded with a data file.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are approximately 75,000,000 magnetic card readers existing in the US at merchant stores and other locations that utilize magnetic stripe cards for their transactions. These readers are normally used to swipe the cards to read the information stored on magnetic strips on the cards. These cards are divided into several groups. There are basic credit cards, airline mileage cards, retail store loyalty cards, gas station cards, and many others. As a result, many people carry several of these cards with them at all times. Not only does this require a large wallet, it also causes a security problem. If the wallet is lost or stolen, all of the cards have to be canceled, which can be a huge job.
Technology is also attempting to change how these transactions are done. Current applications of cell phones and so-called “smart phones” are proposed using optical “bar code” type transmission or (radio frequency identification (RFID) or near field communications (NFC) type transmission, so-called “tap n go” payment schemes. For example, bar code type presentations are currently used on cell phones for airline boarding passes. Support for NFC is now currently available using popular operating systems. However, there are problems with these systems in that they usually require merchants and other businesses to change their equipment from the standard card readers to new machines capable of operating in an RFID or NFC environment. Many such businesses do not see any advantage to making a change. Moreover, users have been reluctant to move to RFID or NFC based on fears of improper reads resulting in unwanted purchases by mistake. Finally, although the use of so-called smart phones is growing, there are still many people who do not use them. Therefore, the idea of switching to a system now that is not used by the majority of the population is a problem.
There currently is no way to use your cell phone to transact business using legacy magnetic stripe card readers, without modification to the reader. Some attempts have been tried to adopt the new cell phones to card reader technology. Some attempts at solving this problem are found in the following publications. U.S. Published Application US2010/0265037 teaches a dynamic transaction card. This card uses coils to impost a magnetic field onto “strips” than can be read by a card reader. The data are installed into a memory on the card for later use. Two major problems with this card are that first, the data must be read onto the card using a special writer. Obviously, a typical consumer would not have access to such a device and even if they did, it would most likely be costly. Moreover, apparently, the card can store data for one card at a time. Thus, the user is limited either to using only one type of card at a time, or loading the single card's information onto the smart card and then carrying the rest. That, of course, eliminates any benefit of the invention. The second problem is the need for a special playback circuit that requires a precision that is difficult to accomplish in actual field use. This card was designed primarily to provide a new method of security for transactions by utilizing a “dynamic” time computation which changes the account number at each transaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,828,214 teaches a system that uses a cell phone or similar device to download data to a memory card. Although a major improvement over the former device, it too has limitations. First, many cell phones in use today do not have memory card slots on them. Second, for use with what the patent calls “swallow” type machines (ATMs, gas pumps, etc), a special adaptor is needed. This means that a user must have the adaptor and know how to use it, which adds hardware and makes the use of the device more difficult. Moreover, the embodiments, here the card is attached to the phone may be difficult to use because of the size of the card readers. Finally, with the exception of one embodiment that had printing on the card, there is no way for a shop clerk to verify what type of card it is, what the expiration date is or any of the usual data associated with credit and other type cards. While the card reader may indeed be able to read the data, the clerk at the retail establishment will not.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,774 teaches a smart card that is modular. Although it appears to be versatile, it too lacks the ability of providing visual identification for a clerk or other retail worker to verify anything about the card. U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,844 teaches as yet another smart card that once again is not designed to provide information to a clerk. This card is specifically intended to use as a phone credit card, where it would not be necessary to verify the owner of the card. Note that this card shows a name and an ID number apparently printed on a protective layer on the card. This of course would limit the card to that one ID number and apparently does not include any way to vary the type of card identification. Thus, one occasion the card can be a phone card and on another a credit card, with no way to show just what card it is supposed to represent.
In all of the prior art, there are numerous attempts at providing smart cards that help consumers. However, none of them have a simple, effective method and system that allows a user to carry one smart card and a display means so that the card can be used in multiple locations in multiple ways in the field without having to carry cumbersome equipment to reformat the card and to have a means for displaying the visual information associated with the card that is being used at any particular time.